Sepia tone
by Charcoal love
Summary: In which Veronica Lodge isn't the only new student in town and Jughead needs a distraction more than he needs to solve the mystery of Jason Blossom's murder.


New students were usually a curiosity in Riverdale. Jughead, used to being in the background had already seen how his once best friend, Archie, had reacted to the new girl Veronica Lodge that day at Pop's. They hadn't seen him there, sitting in a corner, of course but he had seen them.

Betty was going to get her heart broken by Archie over the new girl, he knew that.

But the new girl was going to be a boon for the other new students as well. Veronica Lodge, daughter of jailed millionaire Hiram Lodge was inevitably going to take all the attention off them. Hell, he was sure no one even knew they were there in town.

No one except him, of course, who had seen them come into the Pop's the night before. It would change soon enough though. A brother sister twin duo, even if completely unlike the Blossom twins would still get attention as people would wonder if they were to be the new Blossoms, the new creepily close siblings for them to look at in morbid curiosity thinly disguised as disgust.

They had seemed quite normal though. Perhaps they would get away unscathed by this hellmouth disguised as a nice, decent town.

* * *

"I can't decide if we moved to this town at the worst time or the best time." The girl twin said. She and her brother looked a good deal more alike than Cheryl and Jason. They had the same features, down to the shade of grey of their eye, the pale brown hair, the nose, the thin mouth, only spaced out a bit differently on similar angular faces.

The remark had come in the aftermath of the announcement made over the speaker, followed by Cheryl's threat.

The twins had been well received in school. Not invisible but not exactly part of groups, the way Betty and Archie were.

(The way Jughead had once been)

The few times someone had made a comment comparing them to the Blossom twins, or insinuated that they were fucking one another, the brother had shut them down with blithe comments about small towns being thirsty for gossip. No one wanted to be called a hillbilly.

Jughead still didn't know their names, they never addressed one another by name, always seeming to be in the middle of a conversation but he got some idea of what people they were. Relaxed, but capable. Enthusiastic but not unduly excitable. The girl twin was distracted easily, more irritated by the small town stuff, missing the city. The boy twin was focused on academics, finding the clubs silly. They weren't quite day and night, but weren't codependent the way Cheryl and Jason had been either.

Normal, or as normal as you got in Riverdale.

It would be interesting to write the book from their point of view. To know how outsiders would view this tragedy. That was the only reason he was watching them so closely.

It wasn't because he was lonely. It wasn't because it helped keep his mind off Archie and Betty, the shitty summer, and the Road Trip that Never Was.

It wasn't.

Right?

Jughead wished he could lie to himself as well as he could lie to others.

"There's been a murder, of course it's not the best time to move to town," The boy twin said, monotone.

"I'm just saying, now when we run into the same four people every time, we get to wonder if they're murderers secretly hiding their homicidal urges behind a veneer of politeness."

"It's called being a nice neighbour."

"Who the hell even knows their neighbours in this day and age?!" The girl twin said, gesticulating wildly, and Jughead couldn't help the snort that escaped him. People from the big cities always got weird about people being polite, it made Jughead want to move to one himself, he might actually fit in there.

But it seemed his moment of invisibility was over as the twins had turned to look at him when he snorted.

"Hi, I'm Carmen." The girl introduced herself.

"Cameron." The boy said reluctantly.

"Jughead."

"I think Beatrice pointed you out before," Carmen says, squinting at him while Jughead suppresses laughter.

"I think you mean Betty."

"Yeah, of course Betty." She frowned, and looked into the distance, mouthing 'Beatrice' absently.

"Lemony Snicket." Her brother said and as Carmen gasped and said 'Of course!', Jughead wondered if perhaps he'd been mistaken in thinking the twins normal after all.

"What?"

"She was wondering why she thought Betty's name was Beatrice since it's a fucking weird name." Her brother explained.

"I was reading A Series of Unfortunate Events yesterday, that's a character's name." Carmen continued.

"I guess that twin telepathy shit is real after all."

"No, she's just really predictable." Cameron said, earning himself a swat on his head.

Jughead smothered a smile and looked at the two. Maybe this year wouldn't be as bad as the summer preceding it, after all.

* * *

A/N: I just really want Jughead to have friends.


End file.
